Kelvin watched the digits increase on the pump as he topped off the Blazer’s fuel tank. Disgusted by the amount he was spending, he turned to study the landscape surrounding the suburban Des Moines truck stop. Aside for a few trees illuminated by the signs of the ubiquitous fast-food restaurants, the land was flat and featureless all the way to the horizon. He scanned inside the truck stop and saw Audrey checking out at the register, some snacks and drinks in her arms. He wondered what she thought about the whole scenario.
Initially, it surprised him how eagerly open she was to the idea of driving across three states. As much as that pleased him, her excitement at the notion seemed unwarranted. From their conversations, he knew that she’d been to Rome, London, Paris, New York, and Chicago, but she’d never visited anything resembling their rural destination. He hoped it wouldn’t disappoint her.
She emerged from the store, backing out of the door while carefully cradling the supplies for their trip. Audrey’s blonde hair draped across her black V-neck cardigan with stunning contrast, and her polished black boots seemed out of place compared to the mud-encrusted shoes of the other patrons. She sipped her soda and looked up, meeting Kelvin’s admiring gaze.
He nodded to her and she smiled around her straw, just as the pump clicked off. Kelvin finished up the fueling and opened the driver’s door for her.
“Are we ready?” she asked.
“Just a sec. I’ve gotta go pay for the fuel. I’ll be right back.”
“Why didn’t you use your card?”
“Oh, I ... I don’t have one. My dad says credit cards are a scam, and I kinda believe him. Cash and carry.”
“Alright,” she replied. “Should I wait here?”
“Yeah, here’s fine. Just adjust the seat and the mirrors and I’ll go pay.” Kelvin turned to leave, but looked back at her with a smile. “You sure you’re ready?”
Audrey nodded affirmatively, and Kelvin jogged into the store. He slipped into the line in front of some oversized trucker in bib overalls carrying a bag of pork rinds and behind a balding man in a tan jacket getting some cigarettes and gas. Kelvin whipped out the eighty dollars from his wallet and waited patiently for his turn, then peered out at Audrey, who was making her way around the outside of his truck, manually adjusting the mirrors. The sight of it caused him to stifle a laugh.
Probably should have showed her how to operate the power mirrors, he thought. He watched her finish up and smiled, then approached the register and slapped down the four twenties.
“For pump eight - the Blazer.”
The cashier made his change, and Kelvin hurried out the door, eager to get underway. This was Audrey’s leg of the trip, and he wanted to make sure that she was on some nice straight road before he started nodding off.
She fired up the engine, just as he’d showed her four days ago, and gripped the wheel firmly, but her confident smile eased away any lingering misgivings he had. He slipped into the passenger seat and pointed her toward the on-ramp.
“Okay, I-80 West, Omaha, right there.”
“How far is it from here?”
“Oh, we’ve got about nine hours yet. I figure that we’ll get you going and I’ll sleep some, then I’ll take over when we’re almost there.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
As the Blazer accelerated onto the highway, Kelvin watched her steadily handle the wheel and the road as she checked her gauges and mirrors. Audrey was a quick learner - that much was certain - but she was sure of herself in the situation. After about thirty minutes, he was confident that she was all set.
Kelvin yawned. “It’s a straight shot from here, just stay on I-80 West. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m gonna try and get some shut-eye, ’kay?”
Audrey looked over at him as he nestled into his seat, pulling up the afghan from the back seat and forming it into a pillow. He looked out the passenger window at the stars above, spotted the constellation Ursa Major, and then instinctively traced his eyes toward Polaris, the North Star. Suddenly a shooting star streaked in the corner of his vision toward the horizon.
“Star light, star bright, first star...” he mumbled, before looking over to Audrey, expecting her to finish the rhyme.
She didn’t respond at all. Her eyes and attention were fixed on the road.
“Did you see that?” he yawned again.
“See what?”
“The shooting star,” he replied, pointing toward the direction it had disappeared.
“Oh. No, I must have missed it.”
“Ah, it’s nothing. That’s just why I was singing the little song there.”
“What song?”
“Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight...”
Kelvin rolled his hand to get her to join along, but she didn’t seem to recognize it. Unfazed, he continued.
“...I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight? Ring a bell?”
Audrey shook her head.
“Really? That was a little rhyme my dad taught me when I was a kid. We would sometimes sit out in the backyard and look up at the night sky and, whenever I saw a falling star, he told me to say that. I thought everyone knew that.”
“No. Sorry.”
“Oh, well, maybe it’s a Wyoming thing. What kind of lullabies do you remember?”
Audrey shifted in her seat, her eyes fixed on the road.
“Um, I don’t really remember...” she said softly.
Kelvin chuckled and pulled the afghan around him. “Well, then, maybe it’s not a rich-kid kinda thing.” He peeked through the blanket and Audrey glanced over at him with a smirk.
“Alright,” he yawned again. “Then how ’bout a bedtime story? Come on, you’ve got to have a favorite one of those.”
Audrey opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Instead, she just reached over and stroked his hair. After a tenuous moment she finally spoke.
“I don’t think I ever heard a single one from my mother or father, but my nanny, Sheila, she would sometimes stroke my hair when I had trouble sleeping. It helped. It helped a lot.”
From his vantage, Kelvin could see a tear streaming down her cheek. He didn’t want to press, and he could tell that her relationship with her folks was unusual, but he wanted to comfort her in some way. He reached up and brought her hand from his hair to his cheek. It felt soft and warm and soothing. He kissed it tenderly, gripped it, and her fingers wrapped around his own.
“Well, you didn’t miss much, I guess,” he offered absently. “When my dad told me bedtime stories, I usually couldn’t sleep.”
“Oh? Why’s that?” Audrey asked.
Kelvin took a deep breath.
It’s time to tell her.
He straightened up in his seat and looked out the passenger window again, because he didn’t want to frighten her.
“Okay, so my dad has always been a little weird, right? Well, anyway, he got pretty weird for awhile, kinda ... paranoid. That’s why I was homeschooled for so long. He wouldn’t even let me go to public school until, like, my junior year. He ... he was always afraid that the government was out to get him or something, only he was more than afraid. He was, like, certain.” Kelvin swallowed a lump building in his throat.
“That’s why I never had a cell phone either... he would freak out if I did. And that’s why...”
“No credit card?” Audrey offered.
“Bingo.”
“But he’s gotten better, right?” she asked after a moment.
“Oh, yeah, absolutely ... over the last couple of years. He’s finally settled down and started taking some ... medicine. He even let me go away to college.”
Kelvin turned away from the window, and Audrey’s understanding eyes met his. He smiled and nodded.
“I don’t want to scare you, ya know? I just want you to know he’s had his problems, he’s past ’em, and he’s good now.”
Audrey smiled. “I’m sure he is.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“My parents never let me do anything,” she offered.
Kelvin smiled at the statement.
“Yeah, I get that.”
“Well, I mean, I could do anything I wanted to... I mean anything. Money was never an issue to them. But I almost never saw them. Seriously, Kelvin, I could go for months and never even see them.”
“I’m sorry, ’Drey. That’s messed up.”
Audrey sniffled a little and Kelvin patted her hand.
“I know, right? If I wanted to go to Paris - no problem. I’d fly to Paris - well, me and the entire staff, practically. But not my parents. They were always busy. Always. And I never went to any school, not until the university. They had all the tutors brought to me.”
“Well, what about, like, Christmas ... or Thanksgiving?”
“No... Never.”
Kelvin could feel her pain now. She clearly loved her parents, but they obviously didn’t return that sentiment. Through all of her wealth, her staff, and the fabulous life that many would envy, Audrey was missing the most basic emotional support. Inside, he felt a pained resentment growing toward them. He watched this beautiful, strong, and compassionate girl suffering from the absence of their affections, and he couldn’t conceive of any reason for it. Instead, he just tried to comfort her and lighten her mood.
“Well, if it makes you feel any better,” he smiled, “my Christmases were weird enough. Get this - dad was dead serious that Santa Claus was only a front.”
Audrey looked curiously at him.
“I know, right? Santa was a puppet being run by his elves. To do their espionage. The whole thing was completely...”
Kelvin knew the right word, but dreaded saying it.
Crazy.